What Goes Around, Comes Around: The Implosion of Katherine Harris's Campaign

I've been watching with interest the workings of slow justice in the form of the implosion of Katherine Harris's campaign for the U.S. Senate. Readers may recall that she, In Her Discretion, declared that an extension to allow further recounts was unnecessary during the election debacle in 2000 that disenfranchised thousands of voters in Florida. She sucked up to the Bushes in an effort to get herself ahead, but now that it's payback time, they're not sucking back.

Now she's gone over the top once again in an attempt to pander to the far right-wing. This week, she commented that "[i]f you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin." (By her standard, I guess even Joe Lieberman must be one of Satan's elves.) She said the separation of church and state is a "lie we have been told" and that God did not intend the United States to be a "nation of secular laws." She also said that "we have to have the faithful in government" because that is God's will, and that separating religion and politics is "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

No, Katherine, actually We The People choose our rulers, and we prefer the quaint term, "representatives." You can look it up. (Or is she saying that God personally chose Bill Clinton too?) Veteran Tampa Bay Republican activist Ruby Brooks said, "[t]his notion that you've been chosen or anointed, it's offensive. We hurt our cause with that more than we help it." Yep.

Katherine Harris needs some remedial history education, which she should have plenty of time for after she loses. Unfortunately, there are many others who agree with her and have been organizing to gain control of our government and our way of life. They are uncomfortable with democracy and pluralism, and they would like to set up a kind of Christian Taliban in America. (See, for example, "Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.") Harris knows those people are listening, and that's why she's saying what she's saying. We The People, Christian and otherwise, who hope to preserve traditional American principles need to keep our eyes peeled for this rising phenomenon and fight these radicals locally and nationally however we can. There is a crucial difference between being informed by your faith versus imposing it on others, and between freedom of religion versus state support of a particular religion -- distinctions that have served us well for several centuries, and that such people are hoping to erase. For the sake of our country, we must not let them succeed.
Tags: Katherine Harris, theocracy, recount, democracy